This invention relates generally to the field of surgical instruments for performing cutting, clamping, holding or shearing functions in surgical operations.
Delicate surgical operations such as microsurgery and laparoscopic surgery often require precise control over jaws or blades of instruments used in the procedure. Heretofore, few surgical instruments have been designed which provide such precise control. In order to achieve maximum control over these instruments, it is necessary to use the muscles that control motion of the fingers because they are capable physiologically of more precise control and remarkable finesse.
While U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,760,848 to Hasson and 4,898,157 to Messroghli et al. do disclose surgical instruments which exploit these more sensitive muscles, the instruments are unnecessarily complex and, thus, are relatively expensive and difficult to clean properly. Therefore, there is a need to develop surgical instruments which utilize the hand muscles capable of providing enhanced control of the instrument yet are easy to clean and are relatively inexpensive.